


Reversed Roles

by punknerdmusings



Series: Blowing Out Flames [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Avatar Zuko (Avatar), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27734827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punknerdmusings/pseuds/punknerdmusings
Summary: I had the idea of fire being put on the defense against an air opponent, and it blossomed into a full AU idea where it's the firebenders that get wiped out, the airbenders who do it, and some other details get changed too. There's no promise it gets more, but I have some ideas here and there.
Series: Blowing Out Flames [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2031196
Comments: 3
Kudos: 66





	Reversed Roles

Blades of air shoved Zuko back as he threw up a wall of fire, and he tumbled, nearly falling off the cliff. He’d lost his dao ages ago, and he wasn’t sure he could win. Scratch that, he wasn’t sure he could survive, even if the cliff didn’t kill him. He may have been the Avatar, but he didn’t airbend. He couldn’t. And as Aang pushed him to the edge of the cliff, forcing him to dodge the deadly slices, he knew that he had two options: Die at his hands, or die in the ocean below.

He could only hope that Tui and La would take pity on him as he backflipped off the cliff, the air slicing the trailing hem of his shirt as he followed its path for a split second, before he whipped his legs around to clear it. The momentum spun him to fall faceup, Aang watching him plunge to his most likely death. It felt like an eternity before his back hit the water, and it felt like just a split second until his back hit the water, wrapped up into a single moment of falling through the air before the water swallowed him and he had to fight his urge to suck in a breath, fight his urge to swim to the surface, fight his urge to scream. He instead looked at where the cliff face met the water, frantic as he started to run out of air, before spotting what he needed. He rotated in the water, swimming for the small cove that would keep him safe.

He huddled there for hours, only emerging at night, slowly climbing the cliff to get back up. He knew he needed to get back to camp, and he lit a fire in his hand, pulling his hood up to hide his easily-recognized face, hoping from a distance his flame looked like a lantern. His tattoos, given to him by his uncle, were hidden by the hand wraps he had taken to wearing. It was the easiest way to hide the dragons, so unlike what earthbenders and airbenders wore. And master waterbenders were nearly as rare as him these days, at least in certain parts of the world.

Like the Northern Water Tribe.

He remembered visiting Tui and La there. He remembered how carefree and happy everyone was before the war. And now, the airbenders probably only needed one good attack to discover the secret the people protected, if they didn’t already know what was there. 

The blast of air hit him harder that he would have expected, even two months out of the ice. He’s sent into a tree, thudding on the ground with a soft groan. Everything in him screamed to get up and fight, but he was too dazed as the blades of air Aang had perfected sliced deep into his shoulder, and he screamed in pain. Blood sprayed from the wound as the force sent him spinning backwards, and he spun up a sphere of flames just in time for it to be blasted away by Aang, his gray eyes as intense as the volcanoes back home. Shards of the sky, a hurricane waiting to happen, a storm swirling and targeted right at Zuko.

The Avatar rolled out of the way of another razor-sharp wind, trying to cauterize his shoulder and stay alive at the same time. When a jet started to slice the grass in front of him, he jumped, boosting frantically with his flames as he’s forced higher and higher. He was never comfortable in the air, but nowadays it felt even more dangerous as he grabbed a branch and swung out of the way of another attack, blocking another as it sent him out of the tree and down to the ground below. He managed to slow his fall before rolling and deflecting another blow. Aang gave him so little openings, which is probably why they sent him after Zuko. Even if it was overkill for the Avatar, and all Aang did was toy with him.

All Aang needed to do was get him down for longer than a split second, and then he could suck all the air from his immediate area, killing his ability to firebend first and his ability to live second. He had watched his sister die that way, the only one to be a younger firebending master than him. He wouldn’t let it happen to him if he could help it, but what could he do against an airbender?

He didn’t have to try and survive alone for much longer, he had almost made it to camp before Aang attacked and he had artfully dodged to draw the fight closer to his friends. Soon, water was slamming into the side of Aang’s head, and he turned to fend off Katara as well as Sokka, giving Zuko the chance to sprint to Druk and get all their stuff secured to the saddle as best he could. He had to throw up a wall of fire to start blocking Aang’s attacks as Katara and Sokka got driven back, and when pushed that wall out Aang just jumped into a nearby tree. He kept deflecting, trying to send attacks back until Sokka dragged him onto Druk’s back and the dragon took off. Zuko was just thankful that even Aang couldn’t fly fast enough to keep up with the dragon as Katara started to care for his shoulder, lecturing him about how he shouldn’t have gone so far without them. 

How was he ever supposed to win the war like this?


End file.
